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On his nomination for best supporting actor for his comedic role in the movie Tropic Thunder: “It’s about time narcissistic, accolade-seeking idiotic actors were formally recognized,” deadpans Downey, speaking from the Brooklyn, New York set of Sherlock Holmes. “It’s been a long, hard road for us.”

If you click on the orange badge it takes you to a fun website that analyzes your blog’s reading level. I’ve noticed it can vary from day to day though, I suppose along with the length and depth or your posts. The first time I tried it I was at the High School level, today I’ve dropped down to Junior High, same as the popular and intellectual celebrity gossip blog TMZ so I guess I’m in good company. I had a heck of a time finding any blogs at the College Level until I came across A Blog Around the Clock and then I stumbled on a Medical Humanities blog that earned the elusive Genius Level badge! I’m not really sure it deserves it though. I tried to read it but for some reason it didn’t really make much sense. I think that blogger just likes to throw around a lot big words like hegemonic and neuropsychoanalysis. Hmm, maybe if I paste a few more of those fancy words on my blog today I can get back into High School:)

I’ve been busy trying to catch up on holiday shopping and housework lately, doing iStock photos, and putting up a few Christmas decorations. But I’m not really in the mood to put up the Christmas tree this year, it’s a big one because we have a high ceiling in the family room. Mr. bookbabie seems a little bummed about that idea however. I don’t think it’s a ba-humbug Scrooge kind of thing with me or depression because my mom is gone. I just think I’m worn out and putting up the tree feels like one more chore to do.

The last months of my mom’s life were pretty intense, then she died (also an intense, emotionally charged experience), and then I went right into planning mode for her memorial party. And now it’s the holidays. It seems like I could use some downtime to process this past year. My mom’s illness and death. My son and daughter-in-law losing the baby. I don’t know. Then again, maybe processing/dwelling on what’s happened isn’t really necessary. I don’t want to get stuck in that woe-is-me place where melancholy and gloom rule the day.

Hmm, okay Mr. bookbabie, we’ll put on some holiday music, light a fire in the fireplace, and put up your giant Christmas tree this weekend. Because through all the sadness and the loss of late you’ve been there by my side and for that I am truly grateful. Your love gave me a soft place to land during this most difficult year, so yes, you shall indeed have your tree my dear.

No longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here. ~John Greenleaf Whittier

Stumbled across another neat generator tonight. It’s called Wordle and was created by Jonathan Feinberg. You create a word cloud, either by entering words yourself or by putting in your blog address and letting it take random words from your posts to make the cloud. Then you can change the colors and fonts, how cool is that? If you embed it with the code you get a small linked version, but I did the screen-capture-paste into my photo program trick to get a bigger version. Give it a try. It takes a couple of minutes to create the cloud but it’s fun to sit back and watch the words appear, thanks for the fun toy Jonathan!

Elizabeth Minkel at Smith Magazine recently wrote a nice article about their 6 word memoir book and the meme I started. It’s been a blast for me to follow the meme as it rippled its way across the vastness of the blogosphere. I’ve mostly read and commented on the memes that linked directly back to my original post because it would be impossible to google and read every single blog that has played! I thought it was time to do my own random list of some of the bloggers who played the meme, so here we go…

This is obviously a very short list of people who have embraced the 6 word memoir meme, however, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has played so far. I’ve traveled far and wide tracking the meme as it left its memeprint on mom blogs, birder blogs, photography and book blogs. I’ve read the blogs of those dealing with health issues, the trials and joys of home schooling children, and the trials and heartbreak of those struggling with infertility. I’ve read angry, funny, sad, and hopeful memoirs, but the one thing they all have in common is that they all offer a six word glimpse into that messy, lovely, vibrant, indomitable, grace filled thing we call the human spirit.

Read about a cool blog today in my local morning paper. Have you ever lost or found a camera or a media card? Now there’s a place where you can go to either upload a sample of the pictures, or look to see if anyone has posted your lost pics. It’s at ifoundyourcamera.net. I really hope it catches on, it’s nice to see another positive way that people are utilizing the power of the web:)

As I read yet another book review of a memoir this weekend, my husband told me that I should write one. I said that my story would be much too short and rather boring so when I ran across the following book I decided it was just my speed. A six word memoir! Written by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, Not Quite What I was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure is a compilation based on the story that Hemingway once bet ten dollars that he could sum up his life in six words. His words were- For Sale: baby shoes, never worn. There’s a video on Amazon with examples from the book, it sounds like a fun read! I’d like to start a six word memoir meme and here are the rules:

1. Write your own six word memoir

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like

3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere

4 .Tag five more blogs with links

5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!

It was actually a lot more difficult that I thought it would be, but here’s mine…

If you haven’t been tagged but would like to participate go ahead and copy and paste this post to initiate your own string of the game, or post a comment with your 6 word memoir and I’ll post them later:)